Spectrum Auctions Spectrum Auctions

Margaret WienerChief, Auctions & Spectrum Access Division

Wireless Telecommunications BureauApril 30, 2008

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• Auctions Overview• Auction Process and Timeline• Auction Design• Additional Auction Tools

Presentation Agenda

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• Choosing among mutually exclusive license applications– Comparative hearings– Lotteries– Auctions

Assigning Initial Spectrum Licenses

Comparative hearings (prior to 1982)

Lotteries (beginning in 1982) Auctions (1993 to present)

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Statutory Authority for Auctions• Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 granted FCC

auction authority• Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) extended and expanded

auction authority. • BBA requires auctions to resolve all mutually exclusive

license applications unless exempt– Exemptions are:

Public Safety Radio Services Digital television licenses to replace analog licenses Non-commercial educational and public broadcast

stations

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Public Interest Objectives of Spectrum Auctions

• Rapid deployment of new technologies• Promote economic opportunity and competition

by dissemination of licenses to a wide variety of applicants

• Recovery for the public of a portion of the value of the public spectrum resource

• Efficient and intensive use of the spectrum• Schedule auctions to allow for notice and

comment and for bidders to assess market and make business plans

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• Since the first spectrum auction was held in July 1994, the FCC has– Completed 70 auctions (as of 4/30/08)

– Auctioned over 31,000 licenses – Qualified over 4,000 bidders to participate– Transferred over $28 billion to the US Treasury

(3/31/08)

FCC Auctions Summary

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• Pre-Auction– Spectrum allocation rule making– Service rules established through rule

making• Service area (site based or geographic area) • Block size• Technical rules• Construction requirements• Application and licensing process

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

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• Auction – Public notices released (seeking comment,

establishing procedures, qualified bidders, etc.)– Auction seminar– Mock auction– Auction

• Post-Auction– Down payment and long-form application– Final payment and license granted

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

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Opportunities for the Public to Be Heard

• Commission seeks comment on policy issues that relate to auction designs in allocation & service rulemakings.– Band plan decisions (e.g., frequency block size, geographic

areas, spectrum pairing)

• Commission seeks comment on specific auction design proposals when each auction is announced.– Auction design: package bidding, information disclosure

procedures– Minimum bids / reserve price

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Rule Making – Service RulesDifferent Geographic Schemes for Different Services

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

493 geographic

Areas

12 geographic

Areas

51 geographic

Areas

734 geographic

Areas

175 geographic

Areas

6 geographic

Areas

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• Small business size standards considered on service-specific basis

• Size based on average gross revenues over past three years (≤$3 million, ≤$15 million, ≤$40 million)

• Bidding credits generally of 35%, 25%, 15%• Subject to unjust enrichment• Special attribution rule for rural telephone

cooperatives

Bidding Credits for Small Businesses

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• Post-auction credits given to winning bidders that deploy facilities on and provide services to qualifying tribal lands.

• A qualifying tribal land is any federally recognized tribal area that has a wireline telephone penetration rate equal to or less than 85 percent.

Tribal Lands Bidding Credits

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Typical Pre-Auction Steps & Timeline• Announce auction start date (4-6 months prior to

auction)

• Seek comment – Auction procedures, minimum opening bids, etc.

• Announce procedures (3-5 months prior to auction)– Instructions and deadlines

• Auction seminar (60-75 days prior to auction)

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

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• Short Form Application (FCC Form 175) (deadline 45-60 days prior to auction)

– Requires basic information on identity of applicant, its structure and ownership

– Certification of financial, legal and technical qualifications

– Certification to prevent collusion– Resubmission (Correct minor errors)

Typical Pre-Auction Steps & Timeline (continued)

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

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• Upfront payment deadline (3-4 weeks prior to auction)

• Announce qualified bidders (1-2 weeks prior to auction)

• Secure web access• Mock auction (2-5 days prior to auction)

• Auction begins

Typical Pre-Auction Steps & Timeline (continued)

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

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• Bids can be placed electronically and/or telephonically• Schedule of bidding rounds varies as the auction

progresses• Round results are available after each round of bidding• The auction typically ends when there is a round with

no new bids, proactive waivers, or withdrawals of provisionally winning bids

Spectrum Auction Licensing ProcessTypical Auction Bidding Procedures

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• Auction Closing Public Notice released 2-5 days after bidding ends

• Long-form license applications (FCC Form 601) due 10 business days after Closing PN

• Down payments on winning bids (20%) due 10 business days after Closing PN

• Final payments on winning bids due 10 business days after down payments

Typical Post-Auction ProceduresSpectrum Auction Licensing Process

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• Accepted for Filing PN released approximately 2 weeks after long-form deadline

• Petitions to deny due 10 days after Accepted for Filing PN; Oppositions due 5 business days after Petitions to Deny; Replies due 5 business days after Oppositions

Typical Post-Auction Procedures (continued)

Spectrum Auction Licensing Process

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The Commission’s Auction Design Options

• General parameters:– Sequential or simultaneous auctions– Single or multiple round auctions– License-by-license or package

bidding – Amount of information disclosed

• These elements can be combined in various ways.

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Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending Auction

• All licenses are available during entire auction.

• Bids are accepted until there are no new bids on any licenses.

• Facilitates aggregation and substitution.

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Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending Auction

More than one bidding period permits• Information discovery (observe prices from previous

rounds)• Pursuing backup strategies as information changes

Design promotes timely completion• Minimum bids are a function of competition for the

license• Minimum bidding activity required to maintain current

eligibility

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• There are trade-offs between benefits and potential harms from publicly revealing all information during the auction process.

• Economic theory and recent analysis suggest that an SMR auction may in some circumstances be more efficient if certain information about bids and bidder identities is not publicly revealed prior to and during the auction.

• The concern is that fully revealing bid and bidder information may lead to anti-competitive bidding behavior.

Full or Limited Information Disclosure

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• Bidder identities and license selections revealed prior to auction

• Bid information from prior rounds revealed during the auction, including bidder identities

Full Information Disclosure

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• Bidder identities revealed prior to auction, but not license selections

• Bid amounts from prior rounds revealed during the auction, but not bidder identities

Limited Information Disclosure(Anonymous Bidding)

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Anonymous Bidding• Benefits of Anonymous Bidding

May prevent anti-competitive bidding behavior such as bid signaling, coordinated bidding, and retaliatory bidding.

• Recent Auctions with Anonymous Bidding

Anonymous bidding used in most recent auctions of wireless services licenses.

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SMR Auction with or without Package Bidding

• An SMR auction can be conducted with:– License-by-license bidding and/or – All or nothing bids on groups of licenses

• Called “package” or “combinatorial” bidding

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• Economic reasons favor the use of package bidding in certain circumstances.– Enables bidders to capture

complementarities among licenses– Addresses “exposure” problem of

winning some but not all of needed licenses

• Reports on economic experiments results are available on the FCC Auctions web site.

SMR with Package Bidding

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SMR with Package Bidding– Assume: A alone is worth $10 and B alone is worth

$10, but a package of both (AB) is worth $50– If X wins A for $20 and Y wins B for $20:

• Synergies lost• Each paid too much• Auction has not assigned licenses to highest valuing

bidder– Z might not be willing to bid up to $25 for each license

separately, but if Z can bid $50 on package AB, Z will win• Auction will have produced more revenue and

better efficiency

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• Allows bidders to bid in a straightforward way for the licenses they wish to win.

• Gives public and participants confidence that licenses are assigned by fair and objective means.

• Assigns licenses to the parties that are most likely to put them to effective and efficient use.

• Facilitates efficient spectrum aggregation.

Auction Design Goals

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For more information, please visit the FCC Auctions web site:

http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/

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FCC Auctions Web Site• Lists All Scheduled, Completed and

Upcoming Auction Events• Auction Releases (Current and Archived)• Auctions Data (Maps, Band Plans, Results)• Auctions Contact Information

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Questions?• If you have questions concerning the

auctions program or if you would like to be placed on a notification list of upcoming auctions events, please contact us…– By phone via the Auctions Hotline at (717) 338-

2868– By e-mail at auchelp@fcc.gov– By fax at (717) 338-2850

Spectrum Auctions Spectrum Auctions

Margaret WienerChief, Auctions & Spectrum Access Division

Wireless Telecommunications BureauApril 30, 2008